Radiant Visions: Media Art from SAIC, 1965–Now

Radiant Visions: Media Art from SAIC, 1965–Now was a month-long series of films and artist appearances celebrating SAIC’s 150th Anniversary. Featuring nearly 50 artists and a breathtaking range of techniques and ideas, the series showcased the pioneering and influential work of SAIC alumni. The event was presented by SAIC's Department of Film, Video, New Media, and Animation in collaboration with the Gene Siskel Film Center in February of 2016.

Apichatpong Weerasethakul, still from Cemetery of Splendor, 2015

Cemetery of Splendor

Cannes Palme d'Or winner Apichatpong "Joe" Weerasethakul again proves himself a master of exploring the intersection of the human and spirit worlds. Soldiers lie stricken by a mysterious sleeping sickness, as the subtle theme of healing assisted by otherworldly forces encompasses a hospital volunteer, a psychic, and an awakened soldier. In Thai with English subtitles.

2015, Apichatpong Weersaethakul, Thailand/UK/France, DCP, 122 min.

Lyn Blumenthal and Carole Ann Klonarides, still from Arcade, 1984. Courtesy of the Video Data Bank

Machine Visions

Including works by Jane Veeder, Louis Hock, Jon Satrom, Nick Briz, Deborah Stratman, Jodie Mack, Jenny Perlin, Lyn Blumenthal, and Carole Ann Klonarides, this program considered the technologies of moving images and their reverberating influence on contemporary life.

1972–2014, multiple directors, USA, multiple formats, ca 81 min.

Katie Torn, still from Breathe Deep, 2015. Courtesy of the artist

Identities

Exploring social and individual identity, self-performance and presentation, and the role of media technologies in shaping and expressing notions of the self, this program included works by Jennifer Reeder, Dara Greenwald, Tatsu Aoki, Mindy Faber, Jessica Bardsley, Byron Grush, Katie Torn, and Oli Rodriguez.

1976–2014, multiple directors, USA, multiple formats, ca 79 min.

Tom Kalin, still form Swoon, 1992. Courtesy of the artist

Swoon

A key work within the emerging queer cinema of the 1990s, Tom Kalin’s debut feature Swoon is a spare, but highly stylized, dramatization of the infamous Leopold/Loeb kidnapping and murder case.

Presented in collaboration with SAIC’s Visiting Artists Program.

1992, Tom Kalin, USA, 35 mm, 82 min.

Elisabeth Subrin, still from Shulie, 1997. Courtesy of the artist and the Video Data Bank

Citizens

Exploring the intersections of the personal and political, reflecting on legacies of past radicalism, contemporary moments of resistance, and new political models, this program centered on Elisabeth Subrin’s masterful Shulie (1997), and also included works by Tom Palazzolo, Paul Chan, Steffani Jemison, Latham Zearfoss, and Irina Botea.

Misconception and Daughters of Chaos
Followed by a discussion with film scholar P. Adams Sitney (author of Visionary Film) and filmmaker and fellow SAIC alumnus Saul Levine.

Filmmaker, activist, and scholar Marjorie Keller forged a fiercely poetic body of work, exploring intimacy and everyday life. Misconception, her longest and best-known film, documents the birth of her niece. Daughters of Chaos (1980) uses footage of a wedding to look forward and backward in time, from girlhood to maturity, and the mysteries of growing up.

Print of Misconception is courtesy of the Reserve Film and Video Collection of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, which preserved the film with funding from the National Film Preservation Foundation.

1977–81, Marjorie Keller, USA, 16mm, ca 75 min.

Lilli Carré, still from How She Slept at Night, 2006. Courtesy of the artist

Intimacies

Intimacies of all kinds were explored in this program, which featured two works by leading exponent of personal cinema, Saul Levine: Note to Pati (1969) and Note to Colleen (1974). Also: works by Lilli Carré, David Gatten, Zack Stiglicz, Sara Ludy, Martine Syms, and Song E Kim.

1969–2014, multiple directors, USA, multiple formats, ca 70 min.

Christopher Harris, Still from Still/Here, 2001. Courtesy of the artist

Still/Here

In this austere and sorrowful portrait of his hometown, St. Louis, Christopher Harris sets his black-and-white camera loose to wander through the city’s decaying North Side neighborhoods, an area populated almost exclusively by working class and working poor African Americans.

Still/Here was presented in collaboration with South Side Projections and Black Cinema House.

2001, Christopher Harris, USA, 16mm, 60 min.

Ben Russell, still from Greetings to the Ancestors, 2015. Courtesy of the artist and the Video Data Bank

Channelings

Reaching through time and space, creating new landscapes for history and the imaginary, this program included works by Ben Russell, Joshua Mosley, Yaloo, Amie Siegel, Coleen Fitzgibbon, Dylan Mira, Math Bass, and Allen Ross.